Team Stats

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Princeton men's
volleyball team may not have gotten the win it seeked Saturday
night against the ninth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. By pushing
the reigning EIVA power through four tough games, the longest Penn
State-Princeton match in State College since the Clinton
administration, the Tigers certainly took a step towards
establishing themselves as a legitimate force in the
league.

Penn State, which has won every EIVA title since Princeton's
lone championship in 1998, moved to 12-3 overall and 6-1 in league
play with a 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 27-25 victory over Princeton. The
Tigers fell to 5-3 overall, 3-2 in league play, but they have six
of their final nine league matches still to be played at
home.

Junior Pat Schwagler led Princeton with 15 kills, while freshman
outside Devin Stearns continued his impressive weekend with 10
kills. The Tigers hit a match-best .234 for the night, which head
coach Sam Shweisky attributed to his first-year setter.

"I thought Davis Waddell did a really nice job tonight of
running the offense and keeping everybody involved," Shweisky said
of his junior setter, who had 41 assists on the evening. "His focus
and leadership enabled us to play very steadily, and almost win the
match."

Princeton had one of its most effective nights hitting from the
middle, as Michael Dye and Will Siroky combined for 13 kills with
only three errors. Siroky had nine blocks, including four solo
ones, while Dye had a team-best .625 hitting percentage.

After a close loss in the opening set, Princeton used a 5-0 run
on the Waddell serve early in the second to grab a 12-8 lead. The
Tigers sided out effectively though the set and built the lead up
to 23-16 on another 7-2 run before closing the 25-19 win.

The third set was close thoughout, though Penn State was able to
build a late lead and hold on for a 25-22 win. The fourth set would
go beyond the 25-point mark, though not nearly as far as the
thriller in Dillon Gym last season. Princeton, which played from
behing throughout the set but never gave in, fought off two match
balls before finally falling on a kill by Tom Comfort.

Princeton now shares third place in the league with George
Mason, which fell 3-0 at Saint Francis Saturday night. The Tigers
will play their first full home EIVA weekend when the calendar
turns, starting with a Friday showdown against Sacred Heart. On
Saturday at 4, Princeton will host second-place Harvard in one of
two matchups between the league's lone Ivy programs.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to Dillon Gym and seeing
our great fans for both matches," Shweisky said. "We've made some
good progress on the road, especially this weekend, but we need to
keep getting better if we want to be there in the end."